Home Team Grounded

India finally did manage to lose the one-day series to Pakistan. Perhaps that was a fitting gift for the visiting Pak President! Levelling the Test series at one-all was no less disgraceful and humiliating for the home team. Pakistan for once showed discipline on the field and the squad which was dubbed as the weakest ever Pakistan team to tour India, romped home with all the honours. Right from Kamran Akmal, Asim Kamal and Danish Kaneria in the Tests, to Rana Naveed-ul-Hasan, Salman Butt and Shoaib Malik in the one-dayers, Pakistan had their resources well-marshalled. Of course, Inzamam-ul-Haq, Yousuf Youhana and Younis Khan were there to lead the way and they did accomplish their job to perfection. On the other hand, apart from the emergence of Mahendra Singh Dhoni and the revival of Ashish Nehra to some extent, India achieved very little worthwhile from the one-dayers. Thankfully, Sourav Ganguly's poor run came to an end with the ICC ban and the BCCI restriction. And though one ton and a five wicket haul in six matches may not appear too bad on paper, the bitter truth is that Sachin Tendulkar, finally, is showing imminent signs of prolonged inconsistency. With John Wright gone and Sourav Ganguly woefully out of touch, who is going to set things right for India? "The answer, my friend, is blowing in the winds."